"switch" definition, meaning, and origin

Adjective

Pertaining to riding with the front and back feet swapped round compared to one's normal position.
Pertaining to skiing backwards.

Origin

Perhaps from Middle Dutch swijch (“twig”), first attested in c. 1592. The mechanical device for altering the direction of something sense is first attested in c. 1797, pertaining to pivoted rails on minecart railways, which were once wooden.

Noun

A device to turn electric current on and off or direct its flow.
A change or exchange.
- After many complications and sudden switches of career and identity for all […] they end up selling out for fame and money, and leave the boardwalk for good. - 1985 December 7, Nicholas Deutsch, “Epstein on the Beach...
- Wenger sent on Cesc Fabregas and Van Persie to try to finish Leeds off and with 14 minutes left the switch paid off as the Spaniard sent Bendtner away down the right and his wonderful curling cross was headed in by Van...
- This is a result of a switch from High Street to online retailing, requiring consumer goods to be delivered to the door from large-scale distribution parks that have sufficient traffic to justify a rail terminal. - 2024...
A movable section of railroad track which allows the train to be directed down one of two destination tracks; (set of) points.
A long, slender woody plant stem or a flexible, thin rod used as a whip to administer corporal punishment in the United States.
- Their mother would walk out into the yard and cut a switch from a tree and beat him—beat him, it seemed to Florence, until any other boy would have fallen down dead; […] - 1953, James Baldwin, “Florence's Prayer”, in Go...
- "A proper switch is a slim, flexible branch off a tree or a bush. A switch applied to the buttocks stings fiercely. It may leave red marks or bruises, but it causes no lasting damage.." - 2007, Jeffrey W. Hamilton,...
Synonym of rute.
Synonyms: rute
A command line notation allowing specification of optional behavior.
- Use the /b switch to specify black-and-white printing.
A programming construct that takes different actions depending on the value of an expression.
A networking device connecting multiple wires, allowing them to communicate simultaneously, when possible. Compare to the less efficient hub device that solely duplicates network packets to each wire.
A system of specialized relays, computer hardware, or other equipment which allows the interconnection of a calling party's telephone line with any called party's line.
A mechanism within DNA that activates or deactivates a gene.
One who is willing to take either a submissive or a dominant role in a sexual relationship.
- Ideally, if one of your ladies happens to be a switch (or would be willing to switch for this scene), I would love to be able to inflict a little "revenge tickling" as well, as part of a scenario. - 2012, Terri-Jean...
A separate mass or tress of hair, or of some substance (such as jute) made to resemble hair, formerly worn on the head by women.

Verb

To exchange.
- A “moving platform” scheme[…]is more technologically ambitious than maglev trains even though it relies on conventional rails. Local trains would use side-by-side rails to roll alongside intercity trains and allow...
- I want to switch this red dress for a green one.
To change (something) to the specified state using a switch.
- Switch the light on.
To whip or hit with a switch.
- They were looking on the ground, absorbed in thought. The manager was switching his leg with a slender twig: his sagacious relative lifted his head. - 1899 March, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s...
To change places, tasks, etc.
- I want to switch to a different seat.
To get angry suddenly; to quickly or unreasonably become enraged.
To swing or whisk.
- to switch a cane
To be swung or whisked.
- The angry cat's tail switched back and forth.
To trim.
- Switch and clip thorn and other deciduous hedges. - 1811, Walter Nicol, The Planters Kalendar:
To turn from one railway track to another; to transfer by a switch; generally with off, from, etc.
- to switch off a train; to switch a car from one track to another
- There was also public praise in the days that followed for the train's driver, Andrew Johnson. It took a cool head to co-ordinate with the signaller at York ROC to have the train switched from fast to slow line, to...
To shift to another circuit.
To take on the opposite role (leader vs. follower) in a partner dance.
- Feel free to ask her to follow, lead, or switch! - 2023 February 18 (last accessed), “Heather Lombardi”, in The Dancing Fools, archived from the original on 18 Feb 2023:
To move (the ball or equivalent) from one side of the playing area to the other.
- After they switched the ball across their back half, Hurley found the hard-running Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti, who in turn hit up Stewart. Then the big man produced a moment of inspiration, taking on his defender...